


A New View of the Moon

by mintboy (orphan_account)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Humanstuck, M/M, One Shot, POV First Person, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 23:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16464017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/mintboy
Summary: As a grand, romantic gesture, Karkat organizes a fantastic way for Dave to truly see the stars for the first time.For my boyfriend.





	A New View of the Moon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KittyMotor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyMotor/gifts).



> Named after the short film ["A New View of the Moon"](https://vimeo.com/259818647) by Alex Gorosh, which inspired the fic. It's excellent and just a few minutes long, I'd totally recommend it.

“Almost ready, Kit-Kat? It’s fucking freezing out here,” I muttered, my shaky breaths visible in the night-time air.

Karkat and I had driven out a number of hours into the middle of nowhere – some expanse of green, open field next to a wide, desolate road. We were on the edge of some national park which had been closed for the night; the field melted into a forest of tall, tightly packed trees in the distance. Our car sat parked on the side of the road, somewhat slanted as it was halfway into the dirt.

“Give me a second, shitweasel, it’s hard enough to read these instructions in the dark without your complaining,” Karkat snapped in reply, squinting at the instruction manual as he propped up the telescope on its mount.

“I thought you put this together yesterday, dude,” I leant down a little too close, pushing my shades back up on my face as they slid down my nose. I knew it would annoy him; after all, I had no need to wear them since it was nearly pitch-black outside. I’d long ago shown him my eyes; when the two of us were alone, the shades were more of a fun novelty. Karkat looked up to shoot me a trademark glare of exasperation.

“One, you can’t expect me to remember how to assemble a whole fucking telescope after putting it together once, and, two, get your dumbass shades out of my face,” he looked back down, picking up a screwdriver in a gloved hand and moving to screw the body of the telescope onto the mount, “it’s your fault we have such a tiny ass car. You should’ve let me swing for the bigger one, then we could’ve put this thing together at home.”

“Too late now, my guy,” I remarked, leaning back and bringing my hands to my face. I blew some warm air into my hands, partially covered by fingerless gloves – I had thought they were hilarious at the time I’d bought them, but now they were more of a nuisance. My fingers ached and stung from the cold, late-autumn air.

“Done,” Karkat straightened up, stretching.

“Thank god,” I put a hand to my head, dramatically feigning hurt, “I could’ve frozen to death. I would’ve become a Strider-popsicle, the Walt Disney of rap, and you’d have to unthaw me when science could reverse the traumatic damage to my heart from having to wait so very long –”

“Shut the fuck up,” Karkat ordered, but there was no snarl in his voice; in fact, it was laced with excitement.

After all, this was his idea.

Having grown up in Houston, Texas – in a less than friendly situation with my older brother – there were a lot of things I missed out on. One of those things was stars. Karkat had been surprised when I told him I’d never really seen them clearly; I didn’t ever leave the city, and when the sky wasn’t a cloudless blue bed for the blaring sun, it was a dull, ugly red. It didn’t turn indigo at night. It was a perpetual reddish-brown. It was completely starless, and so polluted with the light from the city that one could even see the clouds traveling across it.

When we moved in together, it was into another city, and still the sky went starless at night, even if it wasn’t red. Sometimes, out of our bedroom window, Karkat would point out a star or two, but they were mere specks, nothing like the pictures that appear online when you search for the night sky. Karkat had grown up somewhere where the stars were something he saw every night, and in his mind the little view we had from our apartment window wasn't nearly enough. He’d made it his mission to have me see the stars, after that, but being such a romance-fanatic, he wanted to make a grand gesture out of it. Which, of course, I was more than fine with.

So, he collected coins in a big, overly-decorated jar that we’d covered in stickers together. When we’d finally emptied it enough times to get over five-hundred dollars, he rented a fancy telescope and had us drive out to the mostly-light-pollution-free field. I could see the stars from the ground – when we got out of the car, I had to take a moment. They were like little, shining freckles on the indigo sky. I couldn’t imagine what I would see from the telescope, it being so beautiful already.

I watched as he glanced through the telescope, fiddling with the various knobs. Finally, he jumped a little, waving one of his arms at me. I pushed my shades up on my forehead, taking a step closer.

“Got it, babe, got it,” he exclaimed excitedly, turning and grinning at me.

I felt a smile creep across my own face, seeing his. His smile was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, I swear. It seemed to explode across his face with the ferocity and passion of a firework.

“Can I see?” I asked, unable to hold back the happiness in my voice. It seemed to fuel his excitement.

“Give me a second, let me make sure,” he glanced through again, “yeah, yeah okay, come here,” he ushered me over, pressing me by the shoulder to push me into the crouching position he’d been in.

Looking through the eyepiece, I blinked, letting myself adjust. It was odd to feel my eyelashes hitting the plastic. Then – there it was; the curl of a nebula surrounded by gleaming stars danced across my vision, shimmering in the darkness.

“Holy shit,” I whispered, letting out a breathy laugh, “holy shit.”

“Isn’t it beautiful?” I felt Karkat squeeze my shoulder. I could only nod, though I wasn’t sure he could see me do it. I didn’t want to stop looking. Karkat rubbed my back in a soft circle, “do you want to see something even more amazing?” he offered.

I pulled away from the telescope hesitantly, “if you wanted me to pay attention to you, you just could’ve asked,” I joked, though my voice was shaky; not from the cold this time, but from the wonder rushing through my chest and head.

He rolled his eyes, gently shoving me out of the way and adjusting the telescope. As he did so, my eyes found the sky. The stars felt so much farther away, when I saw them with only my naked eye. Through the telescope, it felt almost as if I could reach them.

“I got this telescope for a reason,” Karkat explained as he twisted a final knob, “come see.”

He stepped out of the way, and I let myself slide comfortably back up the eyepiece, blinking the image into focus. I gasped.

It was the moon, but not as I’d seen it – a little curve of light in the sky, sometimes covered in little spots if the night was clear enough. No, this was the moon I’d seen in movies. It felt just feet away from me, its gray mass taking up most of the frame. I could see the bumps and craters in excruciating detail, up until the edge, where the other side of the moon faded into the darkness of space.

“Oh my god,” I couldn’t help the laugh that slipped from my lips as I spoke without realizing, utter disbelief rushing through me like a wave.

I heard Karkat’s laugh behind me; a melody, radiant and sweet. Moving away from the telescope, I spun on my heel, grinning widely at him. I didn’t even realize I was crying until I felt the hot streaks down my otherwise chilled face. He moved towards me, stroking the tears off of my cheeks with his thumbs. He met my gaze, his smile soft.

Staring into his eyes was even more beautiful than seeing the stars or moon; there was so much love in them, so much warmth.

“I love you,” I choked out, my voice cracking as I tried to hold back more tears of happiness.

“I love you too, sunshine,” he replied in an instant as he pulled me into an embrace, safe and warm. I nuzzled into his shoulder and returned it, breathing against the fabric of his coat.

After what felt like forever and not long enough, he pulled away, stroking the side of my face. He pulled me into a kiss; tender, sweet. It was like the warmth of the setting sun melting across the pale colors of the sunrise, while at the same time bursting with the color and light of the sunset. It was more lovely than anything I could ever see through that telescope, and as we drove home, that night, hands intertwined, I knew we had a kind of love that went past the stars.


End file.
